A selection of English ESL survival printables

A classic survival game with my new character cards. Your studentsÂ´ task is to decide which survivors should have a place in the life raft. Bless up, Kisdobos :)

Plane Crash: A Survival Game

Matching, multiple-choice, translation, completing the gaps exercises for pre-intermediate and intermediate students. Includes 1 exercise with russian words, you can easily replace them with english defenitions.

Dan and kate survival story

In this game you need to solve a situation with key vocabulary. By pairs each student have a role to play, more vocabulary they use, the quicker the team wins the game. 

This is a SURVIVAL GAME

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Why do living things adapt to their environment? They do it to survive. Children learn some of the ways that plants and animals have adapted to survive in their environment.



I am one of the content developers at primaryleap.co.uk. This resource can be used for home learning or in the classroom. I hope you find it useful.



Adapting to survive reading comprehension

The classical survival game about ten shipwrecked people: Two of them must leave the lifeboat within 30 minutes, or the ship will sink. The ws contains ten role play cards and a ws to justify the decision who will live or die. 

Shipwrecked - A Survival Game - Role Play

Students always enjoy this game. Here´s a worksheet for the classic ranking game where Ss have to agree on the items to be saved from a shipwreck, and rank them in order of their importance. Great for a warmer or icebreaker, or if you have unplanned time left at the end of the class. You can practice argumentation and the language of recommendations, too (Why don´t we ...? We should ...; We had better ...;). Once you checked the solutions, even if the Ss got them wrong, itÂ´s good to announce that they have been found and rescued. Luck is important in life! :) Using the official US Marine Corps items and solutions I rewrote the scenario a little bit, and created a simple, nicely formatted and usable worksheet for ESL/EFL classes.

Lost at Sea - A Survival Game

an A2 (B1 easy) reading to revise modals: MUST, HAVE TO, SHOULD, MAY MIGHT COULD. a little story about 2 boys lost in the jungle and what they should do etc, there are some RC questions , True false and  a couple of exercises on modals,

Reading and practice-Modals: Jungle survival

This speaking-based worksheet focuses on a classic survival ranking activity set in a desert plane-crash scenario. Students imagine they have survived a crash in a hot desert and must decide which of 15 available items are most important for survival while waiting for rescue. The task encourages learners to rank items individually and then negotiate their choices in pairs or small groups, using justification and comparison rather than guessing. The worksheet includes a full item list with Czech translations to support lower-level learners, along with clear sentence starters that scaffold discussion and help students express opinions, agreement, disagreement, and conditional thinking. After the discussion phase, students compare their decisions with an expert survival ranking based on real desert survival logic, leading to reflection on common misconceptions such as overvaluing navigation tools or food. The activity naturally practices comparatives, conditionals, modal verbs, and functional speaking language, making it suitable for A2–B1 learners, older teens, and adults. It works particularly well as a high-engagement speaking lesson, a problem-solving task, or a soft skills activity focused on communication and decision-making. The scenario is adaptable to different class sizes and can be used as a standalone speaking lesson or as part of a wider unit on survival, travel, or real-world problem solving.

Lost in the desert survival: Speaking

It is a role play game. You can play it in three rounds: 1) Individual students get a card and read it, take over the role and try to convince the others why they should live; 2) personal decision of each student and justification, 3) group discussion. My students liked it a lot and discussed heatedly. - Typos removed, thanks for the PM.

The end of the world - Survival game

I propose some sentences, questions, interjections that can be useful in daily conversations. The last part can be developed by students themselves. They can find other situations in ordinary life in order to complete the rest of the worksheet.

Survival Kit in English for French Speakers

This is a mingling role play activity for intermediate to advanced students. There are 12 character profiles. Each profile has a strength and weakness and they must promote themselves to the other students so they do not get voted off the boat/island. I like to make the students vote every 10-15 minutes. Students who are voted out still participate by sharing talking and listening to others and sharing their opinions for who should be kicked out next, but they cannot vote or promote themselves anymore. This is a lesson I created for our schools 'extra speaking lessons' that are offered once a month. They are usually 60 minutes lessons where the goal is to get students to practice speaking 100% of the class.

Boat/Island Survival Mingling Role Play Activity

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

48 Survival English ESL worksheets pdf & doc